JD Vance has leveled a new threat against TV networks, questioning whether some should keep their broadcast licenses.
In an interview with Fox News’ Laura Ingraham Thursday, the vice president dismissed the outcry over free speech that followed ABC’s temporary suspension of Jimmy Kimmel Live! amid threats from Trump-appointed FCC Chair Brendan Carr.
“I’d like them to tell me exactly what Brendan Carr did to have Jimmy Kimmel taken off the air,” Vance said. “I think that Brendan Carr put out a couple of tweets or a couple of truths, or whatever he did, that does not constitute government coercion.”
But there was more to it than a couple of tweets. Hours before ABC pulled Kimmel last week, Carr suggested the FCC could revoke ABC’s broadcasting license over a joke the host had made about Charlie Kirk’s assassin.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way,” Carr said. “These companies can find ways to take action on Kimmel or there is going to be additional work for the FCC ahead.”
Vance told Ingraham, “These broadcast companies—ABC, NBC, CBS—they enjoy the public airwaves because they serve the public interest,” repeating a point Carr had used to pressure ABC to “take action” on Kimmel.
“So I actually think that we should be having a conversation about whether these companies are serving the public interest,” he said.
Unlike cable channels such as CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC, broadcast stations affiliated with or owned by networks like ABC, NBC, and CBS are required to obtain licenses from the federal government.
The FCC can regulate broadcasting and requires networks “by law to operate its station in the ‘public interest, convenience and necessity,” according to the agency’s website.
President Donald Trump last week complained that “97 percent” of networks are against him, and said, “I think maybe their license should be taken away.”
He complained that “When you go back and take a look, all they do is hit Trump. They’re licensed. They’re not allowed to do that.”
Vance said his doubts about whether networks merit federal licenses are “actually totally separate from the Jimmy Kimmel issue because nothing happened to him. He’s currently on the air.”
The 41-year-old vice president, who was close to Kirk, called on Kimmel to apologize to the late right-wing activist’s wife Erika and “to all of the people that he slandered,” arguing that the host had accused “right-wing America” of killing Kirk.
Kimmel, whose show returned to the air on Tuesday, had suggested during his Sept. 15 monologue that Kirk’s alleged assassin, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was connected to the “MAGA gang.”
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